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Christchurch to Blenheim on the Molesworth Road: A Bike Touring Route

If you really want to get ‘out there’ in New Zealand, cycling the Molesworth Road is the ride for you.

It’s stunningly beautiful and isolated.

The Molesworth Road passes through the country’s largest working farm. It’s a dirt road that few people ever get to experience but it’s glorious in every way – from the richly coloured mountains to the history of the pioneers who first trekked this route, seeking out a path between Canterbury and Nelson.

We’ll be honest: it’s not easy cycling, especially with a loaded touring bike, but at the end of 4 days on rough roads we felt it was well worth the effort and certainly far better than taking the busy Highway 1 that runs along the east coast.

The road is actually managed by the Department of Conservation and only opens between December 28 and April 1. Outside of these times you can apply for a special access permit by contacting Canterbury DOC (03 572 9100). It’s good to call them before you go anyway, to make sure the road hasn’t been closed due to bad weather or fire risk.

Distance: 320kmDuration: 5-6 daysTerrain: Moderately challenging to strenuous. Distances appear short but on the rough Molesworth Road they’re often a good day’s work!Accommodation: You’ll need a tent for this one but you can get a bed for the night in Hanmer Springs and Seddon.Highlights: The lonely but beautiful Molesworth Road and the hot springs in Hanmer.Lowlights: Busy roads between Christchurch and Hanmer.Be sure to bring: Food for at least 3 days for the Molesworth Road and lots of fuel for cooking. If there’s bad weather you need to be prepared to wait it out. There are no services between Hanmer and Seddon. A water filter might also be handy, although we drank the water straight from rivers and taps and had no problems.

Check the weather forecast before you set out and beware if they’re predicting some of the famous north-westerly winds that roll through the area. The afternoons could bring particularly fierce headwinds.

We started from Kaiapoi, a suburb just north of Christchurch, but the route is largely the same from the city. In both cases, take Route 72 (signed as the Inland Scenic Route) that runs via Rangiora and Balcairn before ending at Amberley. This has far less traffic than the main Highway 1 (which also turns into a motorway for part of the journey and is barred to cyclists).

Rangiora is the first major town after Christchurch and has a lively main shopping street. It’s a good place to pick up supplies before you turn inland towards Hanmer Springs.

Once you reach Amberley, the scenic route ends and you must take Highway 1 for about 10km to the Highway 7 turnoff. There’s a shoulder most of the way but take care in the heavy traffic. For a break, stop at Mudhouse Winery, a popular vineyard on the main road with wine tasting and a cafe.

The cars still fly by on Highway 7 so again, be careful and keep your wits about you. A mirror is worth its weight in gold.

You’re heading towards the mountains now so the road climbs, steadily but gently, and it’s 14km to Waikari, where you’ll find accommodation and an organic fruit and veg shop. The road ascends a little further as you cover the last 14km to Hurunui, with its characterful old pub, serving up wine from the vineyards around the property and Monteiths Beer, a fine West Coast brew.

Get a bed for the night or try out the brand new camping area (it gets a bit of traffic noise). Grab a meal in the pub and chat with the farmers, who pack the place out for a drink and a laugh most nights.

If you’re on a budget, carry on 2km further to the Balmoral Reserve, a basic tenting area.

This is a relatively tough day and you may want to break it with a night in Hanmer Springs, home to the famous hot pools and all the trimmings you’d expect in a spa town: nice restaurants, souvenir shops and plenty of mini-golf. If you’re more into wilderness than wine and fine dining, push straight on through to the joys of the rugged Molesworth Road.

In any case, start by continuing from Hurunui to Culverden (there’s a good bakery here) along the mostly flat land that leads towards Hanmer. You are gently climbing all the way but most of the grades aren’t sharp enough to be noticeable.

The exit for Hanmer is clearly marked and takes you across the Waiau Ferry Bridge. It opened in 1887 and was a major engineering achievement for the time. You’ll pass one caravan park about 7km outside of town but there are several more in Hanmer itself. The tourist bureau in the town centre can tell you all about your accommodation options, update you on the weather and verify that the Moleworth Road is open.

When you’re ready to push on from Hanmer, take Jacks Pass Road past the golf course and then Clarence Valley Road on your right. This is the road that will take you up to Jacks Pass and the Molesworth Road (not Jacks Pass Road itself, as you might logically think).

The climb to Jacks Pass is a tough 5km, especially on a loaded bike. It’s steep with plenty of loose gravel. Expect to push through the toughest sections. Don’t get discouraged. Even at a snail’s pace it shouldn’t take you much more than an hour and things improve hugely on the other side.

The downhill run to Acheron Cottage is simply stunning and the road is in decent shape for the most part. There are some rutted, bumpy sections but it’s usually possible to work around the roughest bits and there are far fewer loose stones compared to coming up the pass.

The former lodging house that is Acheron Cottage is a welcome sight at the end of the day, with an interesting explanation of the area’s history inside and a friendly ranger next door who will collect your camp fees. Unfortunately, 25 cents will no longer buy you freshly baked bread, a bed, dinner and a stable for horses as it did in the 1860s!

This remote and lonely expanse of land is the highlight of the Molesworth Road. Start early so you have plenty of time to admire the scenery and still reach Cob Cottage by sunset. You aren’t allowed to camp anywhere else in the Molesworth Station and the rangers do watch to make sure all cyclists make Cob cottage by dusk. They’ll come looking if you don’t appear at Cob Cottage and give you a lift if necessary.

The road is quite rough in certain stretches and there are a few good climbs so don’t count on covering more than 10km/hour on a loaded bike. Pack plenty of snacks and water. The only other people you’re likely to see are motorists passing through and, if you’re lucky, a cowboy herding stock.

The day starts with a climb straight out of Acheron before you descend towards the river. It’s a pattern you’ll repeat for the rest of the day, rolling over the hills and crossing the water. There’s very little shade between the rivers so take advantages of the tree-lined river banks.

Isolated Saddle and Wards Pass are the two big challenges to test your legs and both of them come near the end of the ride. Wards Pass is particularly steep but it’s less than 2km long so even pushing up won’t take you too long and then it’s mostly downhill to Cob Cottage, where you’ll find a friendly ranger, water and a pit toilet.

You lose about 400 meters of altitude today but it’s a tough ride nonetheless, with plenty of rolling hills (including a few steep climbs) and continued rough patches on the gravel road. Only the fittest and most lightly-loaded cyclists should count on making it very far past Camden.

Carry at least two full bottles of water and restock at the streams as necessary. Aside from a few farms raising merino sheep and more spectacular scenery, there’s nothing out here.

You will find a small picnic area at Heddon Bridge but it consists only of a pit toilet, with some water from plastic jugs for handwashing, and a marvellous view down into the gorge. A little further down the road is Camden, which once hosted a backpackers but unfortunately it’s now closed, although if you’re in a pinch the locals will undoubtedly find a place for you to stay the night. The ‘homesteaders’ as they’re known out here are very friendly.

Assuming it’s fine weather, however, continue on just a short distance past Camden and watch on your left for a grassy track doing a 180 degree turn off the road and down to an unfenced flat area next to a stream and mostly hidden from the road. This is a beautiful place to pitch your tent. The day we stopped here the birds were warbling all kinds of tunes through the air. Simply magical. If you reach the bridge over the Isis River you’ve gone about 200 meters too far.

After so much rough riding, this is the day when you finally return to the oh-so-sweet smoothness of asphalt. Hurrah! The tarsealed road first appears in tantalising bits that will have you wondering if the dirt has completely disappeared but you’re not out of the dust and ruts for a good 20km. There are a few more hills left to conquer too.

A few farm houses appear in the settlement of Duntroon. There’s an unsigned B&B too but call ahead if you want to stay here. In autumn, look out for the pear and apricot trees by the side of the road in Duntroon – they make good eating!

Once you reach the true start of the paved road, the terrain slants mostly downhill, taking you out of the mountains and past a seemingly endless string of vineyards growing the Sauvignon Blanc grapes that have made this area famous in wine circles.

The Blairich Scenic Reserve (also known as Black Birch to locals) is 14km before Highway 1. It has a pit toilet and stream to draw water from. It’s not officially a camping site but cyclists have tented here before and no one seems to mind.

Soon afterwards a road veers left to Blenheim via Taylors Pass. At just 26km, this is shorter and far less busy than going to Blenheim on Highway 1. The road is unpaved to start with but sealed from the peak down to Blenheim.

Otherwise, carry on to Highway 1 and go right for Seddon, where you’ll find a well stocked supermarket, cafes, a tourist bureau (with internet access) and a motorcamp that’s cheap and basic but with the essentials – a kitchen and hot showers.

Comments

This is the most detailed description I have found for this route and the diagrams showing the elevations are very helpful for any cyclist! This has really assisted our plans for this journey at the end of the year. Thanks so much

You could bike back over another 6 days via: Up the Wairau Valley to St Arnaud at the shore of Lake Rotoiti (90k State Highway) 63, then 106k back to Hanmer Springs via a very rough gravel road. This is the Rainbow Rage MtB race route (http://www.rainbowrage.co.nz/default.asp?PageID=23184). Then back as you came to Christchurch.

Regarding your return to start query, if you start in Christchurch you can get the bus/shuttle to transport your bike and gear to Hanmer. Then once you have completed the tour then you can normally get the train back to Christchurch (departs afternoons from Seddon). However, I understand that the passenger train may not be running after the earthquakes this year, so you would need to contact NZ rail to check. Failing the train then you could cycle back to Kaikoura and take the inland route to Hamner (less traffic). Hope this helps – it is an awesome trip too!! cheers Adrian

The Molesworth road is only officially open Jan-Apr, you may be able to get permission from DoC a bit outside those times but in winter it’s one of the of coldest parts of the country. In the open season the rangers check the road each evening after 7 when the road closes for the day.

The Molesworth road is only officially open Jan-Apr, you may be able to get permission from DoC a bit outside those times but in winter it’s one of the of coldest parts of the country. In the open season the rangers check the road each evening after 7 when the road closes for the day. We’ve just done it and it’s spectacular.

Hi Roman.
We’ve just completed Hanmer/Molesworth/Awatere/Taylor pass/Picton/Waikawa bay/Picton/Queen Charlotte/Havelock/Renwick/Wairau Valley/Rainbow/Hanmer ride–Left 22/12. 4.5 days riding time on our Cdale tandem. As noted we went through the Molesworth before the official opening date. Prior to this I phoned the Molesworth station manager to get the ok which I recd. Doc then emailed me to ask names & dates. I think you will get access ok outside opening dates on Bikes if you contact Jim, [station manager 1st]. J

We camped at the Camden/Isis Stream site mentioned above on New Years Eve 2012.As we were setting up the landowners daughter drove by and told us they didn’t mind – be careful and no fires. A subsequent series of events put me in contact with the owners. It seems her parents (Alan and Beverly Pitts) are not so keen and he would probably have asked us to move on. As well as fire risk they are concerned about human waste as this stream is a domestic water supply – fair enough as it’s been a hot topic here in NZ in the last few years mainly due to “backpackers” buying cheap cars and travelling about freedom camping. I don’t recall having heard cyclists blamed.

During the season that Molesworth road is open they open their shearers’ quarters at Camden Station (which they own) for people passing by but don’t advertise. They also mow grass and supply the hand washing water at the Camden bridge toilet 6 km up the road next to where they actually live at Gladstone Downs Homestead. They let trampers and climbers across their property to access the mountains behind. They are easily searchable on the web and emailable by their homestead dot name at xtra dot co dot nz for more info.

So if you do choose to camp at this spot having read this please be aware of the above issues for everyone’s sake. They are trying to come to some arrangement with Doc about facilities in the area.

We did it on LHT’s so you will be fine. I guess most people we saw were on MTB’ of some sort but that’s the way of the world and most were locals anyway so I wouldn’t expect proper tourers. There are several companies that run tours through there on MTB’s. I would say however that you consider wider tires than stock on the trucker – we have 2” marthon tours. Although depending on timing you would probably survive. Especially the section through Molesworth is graded just before the new year opening of the road and that spreads loose gravel about. I did the Taylor pass section alone some weeks prior to our trip and there was a big difference in the road surface due to the timing of grading.

You can find our journal of our Rainbow Molesworth loop on Crazy Guy on a Bike. It’s a great alternative to the busy coastal route.

Hi Nicholas, if you were to go the opposite way, how would you rate it….harder or easier or it would it really matter? In bike time what time did you take to bike from Acheron to cob cottage, cob cottage to Camden and Camden to seddon .

Hi Karl, I’m not sure that going the other way would matter too much, although going from hanmer to christchurch is much easier than the reverse as it is pretty much all downhill.
My trip to molesworth was pretty slow going, for a couple of reasons. I had some sort of flu which I was recovering from, and because I am rather broke I didn’t fork out for fatter tyres. I definitely should have done, it would’ve made things far easier. I did seddon to cob cottage in two half-days of cycling, then cob cottage all the way to hanmer in one.

This from a guy who ran the Molesworth Road from Cob Cottage to Hanmer 4 times:
Beware! The Taylor Pass road to Blenheim is only sealed for the last 11k into Blenheim, not from the saddle! Run it lots of times while living in Blenheim. Absolutely scenic and worth riding though, a worthy finish to the Molesworth.

Hi all, this is in relation to accommodation through the Molesworth trip – fits in with Alec’s comments on 18 Feb 2013. We live at Camden Station, 50km up the Awatere Valley Road (Molesworth Homestead is about 90km up this road). We have shearers quarters available, full bathroom and kitchen facilities. The quarters sleep 12 people in a variety of rooms. We charge $20 per person per night. If you are just wanting a tent site and use of the kitchen and bathroom then it is $15 per person per night. Open most of the time- except when being used by shearer’s! You can call 03 5757375, or just call in and see!!

I did the route tow years ago and it was my most memorable part of New Zealand. From the pouring rain in St. Arnaud to camp at Coldwater Creek. And the water was…very cold, which made the campfire so perfectly fine. Then to Lake Tennyson, where I almost ran off Island Saddle downhilling. From the lake to the very posh Hanmer Springs. It was fun to see a big bus with a trailer loaded with dirtbikes and bewildered looks of day-tourist seeing me coming from the opposite direction, all sweaty and gritty under the scorching sun. It was nice to be cheered on by the next crowd of daycyclers. Really nice ride between Lake Tennyson and Hanmer Springs. The road is pretty much sandboarded, but the view is quite stunning. The downhill ride to Hanmer Springs is frigging awesome! As was the warm water there, but the way of the road just draw me back. So I cycled back up the hill the next day, only to get a nice life of two Swedish girls. I always say yes to free foods and lifts. From Jacks pass to the Archeron camp-site was sweet and short. The river that runs along the route was at the end of the day a perfect bath. The gentle flow of the lukewarm water gave me some healthy leisure time in it. Then

Then the most beautiful part came. And also the most grueling. From the campsite to Cob Cottage. The route to the first hill was like magic. So beautiful, so serene and almost nobody on the road. I truly enjoyed this part. I don’t know how far I cycled in the end, but at the beginning I was told I have to reach Cob Cottage as I was not allowed to camp in between. Three hills stood in between. Three long hills with dirt routes. I pushed the bike for most of it on these hills, because I didn’t had the strength and the grip to keep cycling on the loose gravel.

I felt the pressure to be in time (before sunset) and pushed and pushed. Extremely exhausted I arrived at Cob Cottage when twilight set in. The ranger, leaning against the cottage and making a wooden stick pointy with a big knife, looked at me with a smirk and said: “Ah, there you are. In five minutes I would have come look for you and take you back here.” In hindsight, that lift would have been very welcome. After the second hill which left me exhausted and on the long, long straight towards Wards Pass with headwind in full-on mode, I really started to doubt why any sane men would do what I was doing as a free choice.

The ranger, sensing my inner thoughts, was very kind and offered me his warm shower. The warm shower just made everything okay in a blink of an eye. Next day onwards toward Camden. I found the wild camping spot after Camden and it was perfect! Took a bit to find it, but if you look at a roadsign at the back and if you see a smiley, there it is. I marked it for others to find. Go off the road and follow what looks like an old trail. You’ll find a spot to camp, but if you venture further, near the stream there is a much better spot. There is also a nice rocky part with old rusty equipment on top of the waterfall. In the stream there are some puddles where you can take a cold and sweet bath. I didn’t make a fire, because everything looked like it could burst into flames. Perfect spot, so thank you for that.

I’ve just done it (got in yesterday) and really stupidly did all the way from Cob Cottage to Blenheim in one day. But it was 16 hours cycling and I didn’t arrive until quarter to midnight. Obviously I should have just pitched the tent, but had accommodation booked, etc. So anyway, I’d endorse the recommendation above NOT to do that.

I did ALOT of pushing on a KHS TR 101 bike with wide-ish tyres (wider than spec) and a heavy load. It’s very definitely a road tourer, but I did invest in making sure the gearing was right and it had fatter tyres before setting off (after doing Mavora Lakes on the normal tyres 2 years ago).

I’d recommend jut doing it as a short trip so you don’t have to carry everything (I’m on a longer circuit so definitely had things I didn’t need, which was depressing as I pushed up the umpteenth hill). Also – good to see the comment about not being sealed from the top of Taylors Pass – that was pretty awful and in fact as it was dark by then and I couldn’t really see to navigate the gravel, I actually pushed down until I got to the asphalt. The other particularly bad part was coming down from Ward’s pass which is very badly corrugated at the moment and felt very dangerous. The final day from Cob Cottage the road wasn’t anything like as bad as the road the previous day from Acheron to Cob Cottage (which took me 7.5 hours), but the descent from Upcot Saddle was also pretty terrifying.

My own bad planning again, but I’d saved your very useful page to my reading list, but it wouldn’t let me read it offline….. so I only reminded myself of some of the really key things you’d said after getting back to Blenheim…. must remember hard copy next time!

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